Anytime Goalscorer: Rules, Tips and Strategy

The goalscorer markets remain ever-popular with a section of punters who prefer to eschew the often-unpredictable world of predicting a winner in the ever confusing world of football. As Leicester City’s Premier League title win at 5000/1 proves, sometimes you can just never predict what is going to happen next.

But one thing is sure in the beautiful game: the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Robert Lewandowski will always score goals. And it is so easy to back them to do just that, and at genuinely value prices, that more and more punters are being switched on to the pleasures of the Anytime Goalscorer market.

Anytime, Any Place

As the name suggests, when you place an Anytime Goalscorer wager you are simply backing a player to score. It doesn’t matter whether the ball hits the net in the first or last minute, whether it’s a 30-yard screamer or a simple tap-in, you will be paid when your selection gets himself on the scoresheet.

The rules are generally logical, although there are some caveats that need to be remembered (see examples below). But, in layman’s terms, if your man nets in normal time then you will be rewarded.

Anytime Goalscorer Strategy

There are a few different strategies that can be employed when placing Anytime Goalscorer punts. You can always back the most obvious goalscorer, usually the strikers of course, at slightly lower odds but with less risk. For example, Cristiano Ronaldo was available at 13/10 to score at any point during the 2016 Champions League final.

But then there are form horses, those who have been rattling in the goals in recent times, who are worth considering. Antoine Griezmann, for instance, scored in both legs of Atletico Madrid’s semi-final in that competition, and yet he was available at a more generous price of 2/1.

Then you have the set piece takers to consider; you know, those players who maybe don’t score often in normal play, but when given a dead ball situation around 25 yards from goal really come into their own. One example is Leighton Baines at Everton, who has scored 21 of his 25 goals for the club either from a free kick or penalty. Available from 16/1 in the Anytime Goalscorer market, Baines is a great example of smart anytime scorer betting.

Then there’s the central defender who goes forward for corners/set plays to add height and power when challenging for the ball. An example would be John Terry, who has 25 career goals to his name – 20 of which have come from set pieces. He’s often available at 18/1 in the Anytime Goalscorer market, so if he played 30 games a season and you had £5 on him to score in each, you would only need him to net twice to secure a profit. In the 2014/15 campaign Terry played 45 times for Chelsea – netting seven goals. For a total outlay of £225, you would have made a whopping profit of £405 (£630 in total) if his odds stayed at 18/1 all season!

Here’s another example, Sergio Aguero, who is generally available at Evens in the anytime market.

2015/16 appearances: 48

Total spend: £240 (48 x £5)

2015/16 goals: 36

Total return: £360

Net profit: £120

So as you can see, there are many ways to scale this potentially lucrative market to your advantage.

So now punters have two choices when their selected anytime goalscorer isn’t picked in their team’s starting eleven for the match in question: they can access a refund on their stake by contacting the relevant bookies’ customer service department, or let it run in the hope that their selection makes a ‘super sub’ appearance from the bench.

Now your selection becomes live in the Anytime Goalscorer stakes whether they enter the field in the first or ninetieth minute.

Other Things You Need to Know

With Euro 2016 on the horizon, and this is worth remembering for any tournament that involves a knockout style of play, it is important to note that Anytime Goalscorer bets are only valid for the first 90 minutes of the game. This is the same as many other markets, so should your chosen fixture go into extra-time (and even penalties) then unfortunately your Anytime bet becomes void.

Here are some other points of fact that are worth memorising:

Own Goals

Of course, own goals don’t count either, so if you’ve backed Harry Kane to hammer one home for Spurs and he somehow ends up knocking in an own goal, as he did against Swansea in the 2015/16 season, then unfortunately you don’t win here.

Abandonments

As we saw when the Manchester United and Bournemouth match was abandoned due to that ‘security breach’ on the last day of the 2015/16 campaign, elite level football matches do occasionally get postponed. Anytime Goalscorer bets are void, and stakes refunded, for that particular contest unless it is played within a certain time frame: for example, SkyBet dictate that the fixture must be played before midnight on the scheduled date, while bet365 state that it must be played within a week of the original date. The only caveat to this is if a bet is placed well in advance of kick off and the match is subsequently moved for TV coverage reasons.

Data Sources

All of the major bookmakers use the Press Association’s data when it comes to settling bets, so what they say is final.

The Press Association (PA) is a UK based media agency that provides official statistics to the Premier League, the Football League and non league divisions. The information they provide provides the platform for all bookmakers’ bet settlements.

If significant evidence is presented that the PA’s information is incorrect, the bookmaker will conduct their own independent investigation of the situation.

Scorecast/Wincast

There are two other bet variants that involve Anytime Goalscorer selections: Scorecast, where you need to pick out a goalscorer and the correct score after 90 minutes, and Wincast, where you are simply looking to find an anytime goal-grabber and predict the team that wins the game.

Again, the same rules here apply as with traditional Anytime Goalscorer wagers: the player must score within ‘normal time’, e.g. 90 minutes plus stoppage time. If he does not, then your bet will be settled as a correct score only (scorecast) or voided altogether (wincast). Should the selected player take to the field for nay amount of time, no matter how small, they will deemed eligible.